Tsang lost it. I’d never seen him cry. The man broke down and cried. Ivy released one of my hands to hug his bicep with her arm. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped at his face, then he continued. “Joe pushed me. The son of a bitch pushed me to the ground. The second shot hit his head. The shooter got away.”
Leaning forward I wrapped my arms around Ivy and bawled like a baby into her hair. At some point I stopped and the doctor came into the room. He explained the medical terms as to what happened but who gave a shit?
“Doctor, is he dead?” I asked, needing the confirmation. I had to hear it myself to accept it. I had to.
“Yes, Mr. Chang, I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything we could do.”
“Thank you.” Cause dead was dead. I really didn’t need to hear more about complications and hemorrhaging. I already knew the goddamn cause. “I need to see him, Doctor.”
After that they took us to the room where Joe still laid, a sheet over his face. I held onto Ivy.
I let go of her before reaching out to lift the sheet off his face. I had to see for myself. To know for sure, it was my father in so many ways who lay there. Even by blood since he’d shed it for me. One of the earliest memories I have of Joe was of him crawling into the back room to get me that day…that day my mother died. He looked like he was in pain then. There was blood on his face and he had fear in his eyes. Even as a child I knew that. Looking at him now, while his eyes were closed his features took me back to that day. To the memory I’d just been able to recall. A day of so much pain. He took me out of the store so I never saw my mother’s body on the floor in the front room. I had enough nightmares as a child as it was, I didn’t need any more. Now I had one more to add to the night demons. I leaned down and kissed Joe’s cheek, before lowering the cover back over his face.
“Let me see you home, Maze.” Tsang sighed. “I’ll make arrangements for Joe. Will and Mark will take you back to my condo in Chinatown. You’ll be safer there. I will sort this out. I promise you. I swear on my friendship with Joe.”
I turned to look at the man that truly had been like an uncle to me. “Thank you, Uncle Tsang. But after you’re done here. I have questions.”
I glanced at Ivy who had been softly crying beside me, her arm plastered around my waist. I encircled her in my embrace and placed my lips at her temple.
“Come on,” I said to her.
Mark waited for us on the other side of the door and he took us out of the hospital. I saw the familiar black limo with Will behind the wheel. We got in and Will drove off. It hit me then as I watched him drive us in a world that had suddenly become so dark.
Terry was gone, too. The numbness that had begun to invade my limbs since I got the phone call enveloped me completely. I wondered if I’d ever feel again.
Twenty minutes later, I sat on the long comfortable couch at Tsang’s place with Ivy spread out beside me. His entire condo was homey done in a combo Marta Steward meets the Ming Dynasty style with its peacock blue, green and dark brown accents.
I was glad we were there. Ivy’s legs rested on the couch and her head in my lap. She slept while I played with her hair, touching it lightly, her face, her arm. But I couldn’t sleep. My mind raced with thoughts I shouldn’t have while I held Ivy in my arms. Our connection was the only thing barely grounding me, because the deadness inside still hadn’t gone away.
A soft knock preceded the door opening, and Uncle Tsang entered the condo. I put my finger up to my lips so he wouldn’t say anything to wake up Ivy.
Gently, I eased myself up and placed a cushion under her head. I bent down and kissed her brow and then motioned to Uncle Tsang to follow me to his den. As soon as we entered the room, I closed the door. He headed for the liquor cabinet and took out two glasses. He poured dark-colored elixirs into both. But no amount of the stuff in my veins could fix this. He offered one glass to me before sitting in the chair in front of the desk. I took a good swallow. I didn’t sit down.
He reached into his inside jacket pocket. “Here,” he said, handing me an envelope.
I frowned. “What’s this?” But as I glanced down at it, it had my name scrawled across the front and I recognized the handwriting. “Joe?” I looked at Tsang and he nodded.
“Open it.”
My hands shook as I tore open the envelope.
Dear Maze,
I gave this to Uncle Tsang to give to you just in case I couldn’t be there to tell you myself. The doctors are optimistic about my health. So far so good, but in this world nothing is guaranteed, and I needed you to know about the past from me. Tsang told me what that Triad messenger said to you and I thought you deserved the whole truth. It’s time.
You know only part of my history with the Triad. You know I was a member because of my controlling interest in the Tong. What you do not know is that I once headed the Triad. I was the Dragon Master and Tsang my enforcer. It was the reason I was able to step down and how I created the legitimate Tong.
But I did not do any of that until after I lost your mother. You see I thought I could have it all. I could be the man she needed, a father to you, and we could be a family. I loved your mother and I love you so much. But the Triad, the way of life, was all I knew, and I did not want it to touch either of you. I kept the violence away from you both as much as possible. Your mother knew I was involved in the Triad, but not at what level, and certainly not that I headed the organization that covered quite a bit of the East Coast and part of the West. I am not proud of some of the things I have done and I have in my own way tried to atone.
What you do not know is your mother died because of me. Some would say it was the debt I had to pay for all the wrong I had done. But you and your mother should not have had to pay that price. It was not a random shooting. But because of the changes I was trying to make within the Triad. When I attempted to steer us away from parts of the business, I was seen as weak by others. Liu’s father placed a hit on me in a bid to take over everything. They came after me. Your mother was with me and would not leave my side. She refused to leave the store when they entered. She wanted me to go with her. To just walk away. I could not, so I fought. And I lost. She died that day and I almost did, too. Tsang stopped Liu’s father and saved me.
After your mother’s death I stepped down and that was when the Tong was fully born, made up of a small group of legitimate business associations. I refused to touch any of the illegal ventures. I turned everything I had been doing into legitimate concerns or turned it completely over to the Triad. Others joined me. The remaining Triad leads agreed to let me develop the Tong. As long as I remained a part of the five and paid for the privilege of keeping the Tong. With my acceptance that Liu would take his father’s place. We five would then rule without a dragon’s head. I was tired of the killing and only wanted peace so I agreed. For almost twenty years, I continued to develop and solidify legal businesses. But when the others saw what you were capable of, your skills, they wanted to make you part of the Triad, to ensure I would never leave. That they’d continue to benefit from the profits of the Tong. I refused.
I have left you all of my controlling interest in the Tong. Uncle Tsang will take you to the lawyers who have all the documents and handle the accounts as soon as possible. It’s all yours, Maze. All I ask is that you help the Tong. Help the organization and all the businesses it represents of good people who want to do things the right way. People who I help, who help each other, to make sure the Triad does not take their hard work away from them, does not drag them into the violence that exists there. Please forgive me.
Love, Joe.
P.S. I have always been so very proud of you. You are the son of my heart. Be happy with Ivy. She loves you. Do not make my mistakes.
Uncle Tsang’s voice broke through my heavy breathing. Silent tears trailed a path down my cheeks as I read Joe’s last words to me.
“He left you everything, Maze,” Tsang said. “And it’s a lot. More than you realize. He never lived within
his means. Not even Liu really knows how vast Joe’s holding are, which are now yours. You are one extremely wealthy young man.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the money.” I was breathing hard. I rubbed my hand over my face to wipe away the tears I couldn’t seem to stop shedding. My body felt drained like I’d just had the fight of my life and I lost. I was no longer numb. Rage now burned through my veins.
“You now have a choice. You can cash out, take the money, put it elsewhere, and have nothing to do with the Tong. No connection to the Triad. Just walk away. Or you can continue to do what Joe fought all these years to do. Help others protect their small businesses. Joe loaned a lot of people money, legitimately, as a result he has ownership in most of the businesses around here. He also made several investments. He was worth billions, Maze. He built up connections in Asia while I have worked on political connections in the U.S. The Tong has financing and political backing in place now. That last fight did a lot of financial, as well as influential, damage to the others. Joe knew now was the time to break completely away from the Triad.”
“What?” I knew money was never an issue because it just never was. How much of it we had I never thought about. We didn’t live like kings on Wall Street but we always seemed to be able to afford whatever we needed. A few million I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out about but… “Fuck. It’s why they tried to kill him.”
“That shot was meant for me,” Tsang insisted.
I raised my head. “We both know it was for you both. Don’t try to protect me anymore, Uncle Tsang, from the truth.”
He drained the rest of the alcohol in his glass and so did I. “The Triad might not have known the extent of his and my holdings but they know enough, and yes, they came after us both.” After he grabbed the bottle and poured more into his glass, he reached toward me to refill my glass. I let him. This time, I drank it all in one gulp.
“I will do whatever you want me to do, Maze. If you decide to walk away I will buy up as much of the Tong interest as I can but I have nowhere near the funds to buy it all. I don’t have Joe’s kind of power, his gifts. But…” He paused and stared hard at me. “I think you do. It’s what Joe saw in you and what the others sensed. I think you can be a Dragon Master.”
“What?”
“Take over the Tong, let me work with you as I did with Joe. And I will deal with the Triad.”
I shook my head, then turned toward the closed door but only seeing what rested beyond it. My heart beat on that couch out there. Ivy. “Right now, Uncle Tsang, there is only one thing I want to know. Who?”
“Maze, I will handle this.”
I shook my head. “Who did it?”
“Jai. But he was just following orders. You know who wanted Joe dead.”
The hate and anger filling my heart momentarily sucked the air out of my lungs so all I could do was nod. It took me a minute to control myself before I spoke. “Bullshit. Jai’s errant boy had warned me. He did what he did and enjoyed it.” I sighed. “I understand now how naïve I really was. When I won that fight, shit seems like a million years ago now. I thought I walked away from the Triad and all of its shit. As far as the Tong, I don’t know, Uncle Tsang. I will have to think about that.”
“I can help you. It was Joe’s legacy to you.”
“I know.”
“Maze…I’m sorry.”
I nodded. But Joe wasn’t the only one Jai had threatened. I wondered if the pain I felt every time I inhaled would ease anytime soon knowing what I had to do. And what it could cost me.
Chapter Nine
Ivy
We sat at our little table in our place having breakfast. Just cold cereal. Neither one of us felt like cooking or takeout. Maze had been withdrawn, quiet for the last few days. I couldn’t blame him. We’d laid the man to rest who had been both mother and father to him for most of his life just four days ago. I hated to leave Maze.
“Are you sure?” I insisted. “I can wait until the day of the surgery and fly in then with you. You need me now.”
We’d been talking about this for a couple of days now. Maze had been even more adamant that I not change my plans and still leave in the morning. Bev was having her surgery in two days, and we still had furniture being delivered, he needed to setup. But I knew Maze continued to grieve, and would for a long time.
Maze leaned over and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be fine for a couple of days. Your mom and Bev need you there, and you need to be there. I’ll fly down the day of the surgery. I won’t be good company right now and I’d just be in the way before the surgery anyway. I know you want to spend some time with your family and friends.”
“No, you won’t. And you’d be fine.” But he was right. He was dealing with his own issues right now coming to terms with Joe’s death, but I wanted him there so I decided to tell him so. “Come for me then.”
His lips curled up slightly, but no pleasure lit up his eyes. This was not the grin I’d become used to seeing from my Maze, and it killed me to find him like this. Like something inside him had died when Joe and Terry were laid to rest. Truth be told, I was scared shitless for Maze after what happened. He didn’t have to tell me the shooting was Triad related. This was no random drive by but an outright assassination. I wanted him away from all of this mess and any danger.
“I will be there for you when you need me,” he insisted. “Go be with your parents for a couple of days like you wanted. I’m going to use the time to finish packing the house in Brooklyn.”
“Okay. Just promise me you’ll be safe.”
He pushed the hair that had fallen in front of my face behind my ear. “No worries.”
We’d been moving Joe and Maze’s things to our new place. While Maze traveled light, Joe didn’t. Maze was putting most of his stepfather’s stuff in storage. Today we were going over to Dante’s condo to move the rest of my stuff. Dante hadn’t been happy when I told him last week I was moving out, but in the same breath I also told him Maze’s stepdad had been killed. Dante had even come to the funeral. I loved my friend for that. For making that kind of effort for Maze and for me, for someone he didn’t know.
Maze pulled his phone out and sent a text. He looked up at me and asked, “You ready?”
“Yeah.” That’s another thing. We never took cabs anywhere. With my foot still in a cast I wasn’t complaining about door-to-door limo service, though. I didn’t really want to question why Will, our bodyguard and Terry’s replacement remained with us, and sometimes Mark. I missed Terry and I knew he’d died protecting Joe. I hadn’t questioned Maze for the reasons behind the shooting. But I was scared for Maze and part of me really didn’t want to know the details. This was probably very cowardly of me. Yet, another part of me needed to know if Maze was in danger.
“Do we still need a bodyguard?” I asked.
Maze stood and grabbed our cereal bowls. “It’s just a precaution until Joe’s murderer is caught.” He turned around at the sink and rinsed out the bowls before placing them in the dishwasher.
“Do the police have any leads?” I got up and lifted my bag from the corner. We’d both given statements to the police that day at the hospital and a detective had shown up at the funeral. Maze and Mr. Tsang spoke to him while I waited in the limo with Will. There were at least three hundred people at the funeral for his stepdad. Including the Mayor of New York, and a member of Congress. Even the newspaper ran a brief story on the prominent Chinese businessman who was respected in the U.S. and Asia. The only thing is the article stated it was a drive-by shooting between rival Chinese gangs and his stepdad and driver had gotten caught in the crossfire. Given what little Maze told me, I knew it for a lie. Joe was the target.
“Nothing so far.” He came over to me and stopped to take my hand in his. “Let’s get the rest of your stuff so you’re good and truly moved in here.”
I looked into his beautiful stormy eyes. “Are you safe, Maze? Is it safe for you?”
He pulled me into a brief hug. “
Hey, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“All right. Let’s go.” I had no choice but to trust him. And pray to God he was in no danger from whoever had killed Joe.
****
I still had my key to the condo and used it to open the door. I’d already texted Dante to warn him Maze and I were on the way over. I didn’t want to risk walking in on him again butt naked on the couch with anyone. Although I was curious as to who it could be since he told me he and Christy weren’t sleeping together any more. As soon as we stepped into the place, I saw my ex-roommate sitting at the kitchen counter. I was surprised to find him there. I glanced around and he seemed to be alone.
“Hey,” I said. “I thought you’d be at class.”
He looked at the clock on the microwave. “Don’t have to leave for another couple of hours. It was rescheduled for later today.”
“’Sup,” Maze said, nodding at him.
“Hey, man. Thought I’d stick around in case you needed some help since Ivy here isn’t real mobile.”
“Thanks, man,” Maze replied.
I chuckled. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“And I also stuck around because I wanted to tell you in person about an opportunity to chorography some work for RBA.” Dante grinned.
“What!” I squealed.
“What’s that?” Maze asked looking at me.
“The Regional Ballet Association. It’s made up of fifty of the top dance schools in the country. Sometimes foreign schools are a part of it. Once a year they get together for a weeklong festival. Some world famous dancers and choreographers teach classes to the best of these students. The last two nights there are about ten performances in front of a crowd of roughly a thousand. The schools all compete to have their dancers and original choreography chosen to be showcased those last two nights. Out of the fifty schools only maybe ten are chosen to give special performances that can bring more students into the school, provide scholarships, and offers of professional contracts.”
Maze (The Ballerina Series #2) Page 7